Is logic useful for doing Philosophy?

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2024.e96740

Keywords:

Logic, Philosophy, Arguments, Formalization, Logic Proofs

Abstract

 Providing some basic arguments and a historical context, I introduce the special volume What can we do in Philosophy using Logic? In this introduction, I discuss whether logic is useful for understanding, evaluating or building arguments in philosophy. I argue that, although there has been research supporting the idea that logic can serve as a philosophical instrument, this has not shown completely its utility. This is the reason I offer to discuss the importance of logic in philosophy, trying to show that philosophers employ logic when they work with arguments and also obtain worth benefits by applying it.

References

Aristotle. 1889. The Organon, Or Logical Treatises of Aristotle: With Copious Elucidations from the Commentaries of Ammonius, Porphyry and Simplicius. Vol. 1 and 2. London: George Bell and Sons.

Bruce, M. & Barbon, S. 2011. Just the Arguments: 100 of the Most Important Arguments in Western Philosophy. United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell

Copi, I. 1973. Symbolic Logic. Collier McMillan Publishers.

Copi, I; Cohen, K.; McMahon, K. 2014, Introduction to Logic. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Frege, G. 1967 [1879]. Concept Script, a formal language of pure thought modelled upon that of aritmethic. In: J. van Heijenoort. ed. From Frege to Gödel: a Source Book in Mathematical Logic. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Hegel, G. W. F. 2007 [1807]. Phenomenology of Spirit. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kripke, S. 1963. Semantical analysis of modal logic I. Normal modal propositional calculi. Zeitschrift für mathematische Logik und Grundlagen der Mathematic, vol. 9: 67-96.

Nietzsche, F. 2001 [1882]. The Gay Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Prior, A. 1957. Time and Modality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Russell, B. & Whitehead, A. 1956 [1910-1913]. Principia Mathematica. 3 volumes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wittgenstein, L. 1953. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Oxford: Blackwell.

Downloads

Published

2024-07-10

Issue

Section

What Can We Do in Philosophy Using Logic?